“I was so unhappy with the way that some people refused to accept the facts, refused to accept the findings of an independent Accountability Review Board, politicized everything about this terrible attack," she told The Associated Press. "My job is to admit that we have to make improvements and we're going to."

Republican lawmakers who have accused the administration of seeking to deceive voters ahead of the November elections don't live in an “evidence-based world” and refuse to “accept the facts,” she told the AP in her final one-on-one interview as secretary of State.

Clinton's last day at the State Department is Friday.

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Republicans have been particularly critical of the administration for initially linking the attack to a peaceful protest gone awry, which they say was done to give President Obama cover from criticism of his anti-terrorism record ahead of the elections.

Obama's first choice to replace Clinton, Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, withdrew from consideration amid withering criticism from Republican lawmakers for her explanation of the attack on Sunday news shows five days after the attack.

"There are some people in politics and in the press who can't be confused by the facts," Clinton told the AP. "They just will not live in an evidence-based world. And that's regrettable. It's regrettable for our political system and for the people who serve our government in very dangerous, difficult circumstances."

She added that she would not be "discouraged by the fact that they are never going to accept the facts and the limitations of the facts." She added that "you have to get up every day and work to do best you can and communicate that to the vast majority of fair-minded Americans whether they're in Congress, in the press or in the public."